The present invention relates generally to a mechanism for reversing the drive to a crop harvesting header on a combine and, particularly, to a mechanism for actuating the header drive reverser.
Crop harvesting machines, such as combines, include harvesting mechanisms disposed on forwardly mounted headers to engage crop material on the ground and initiate the crop harvesting process. Combines are provided with conveyors housed within a hollow feeder housing to transfer severed crop material from the header to a threshing mechanism mounted in the base unit. Under certain crop conditions, one or more of the harvesting mechanisms or the conveyor can become plugged with crop material, halting the operation of the entire crop harvesting machine. By reversing the direction of the drive to these harvesting components, they can be operated in reverse to discharge the crop material toward the ground, thereby unplugging the machine in a simple and effective manner to permit a continued harvesting operation.
Examples of previous attempts to provide a header drive reversing mechanism can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,138,837 and 4,218,864. It has been found that serious damage to the drive components and/or the drive reversing mechanism can result if both the drive reverser and the primary drive are attempting to power the rotation of the header drive shaft in opposing directions at the same time. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an actuating mechanism that interconnects the primary drive and the drive reverser to prevent the drive reverser from being actuated while the primary drive is operatively driving the header.